- South Africa’s Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy, briefed the media last Friday ahead of The Glascow International Climate Talks (COP26) this coming week.
- In her brief, Creecy announced that an outcome of the most recent governing body meeting of the Climate Investments Funds (CIF), South Africa has been asked to develop an investment plan commensurate to an indicative allocation of between two and five hundred million US dollars from the Clean Technology Fund.
- The allocation includes a one-million-dollar Investment Plan Preparation Grant so the plan can be developed.
“Based on previous experience of allocations from this Fund, we envisage that this initial amount can leverage additional blended finance from one of the multi -lateral development banks with a multiplier of three or four to one. Our government is in the process of setting up a high powered Finance Workstream focusing on our Just Transition, which will develop this investment plan,” said Creecy.
Creecy added that the country sees the decision by the CIF as a small, but important first step towards laying the foundation work for the broader financing programme of our Just Transition. “The focus of this investment plan be the Eskom energy transition, including repowering and repurposing of retiring coal plants and investment in new low carbon generation capacity.”
Related news: South Africa’s Highveld Sulphur Dioxide Emissions is the Second Highest in the World
“We hope to use the informal side meetings that take place at COP26 to generate further interest in supporting the country’s Just Transition to a low carbon economy and climate resilient society.” said Creecy.
Link to full brief HERE
Author: Bryan Groenendaal